Woman born with HIV speaks to Morris Hills students

Paige Rawl takes s selfie with Morris Hills students after her talk. Paige was born with AIDs and is the author of an anti-bullying book that is on common core student summer reading lists.(Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)Buy Photo

ROCKAWAY – Paige Rawl has spoken at hundreds of events, but she had never seen a response like the one she got entering Morris Hills High School Thursday.

Most of the school’s 1,300 students and faculty donned blue “Think Positive” T-shirts, posters and banners lined the hallways and personal essays were read to welcome Rawl to the school to discuss her memoir, “Positive.”

“I’ve never had a response quite like this. It was a whole new positive experience for me,” said Rawl, now 21 and living in Wisconsin. “Some schools you can tell have really been touched and this was really one of them.”

In her memoir, Rawl talks about being born HIV-positive and how the stigma followed her through school and made her the target of bullying.

It’s for that reason her book was chosen as the summer reading book by Jennifer Toriello, district director of instructional services for language arts, who has led a summer reading program for the last five years.

“And this is the fourth year in a row we’ve gotten the author to come,” Jennifer Toriello said. “It’s become a requirement for the reading selection.”

Jennifer Toriello saw Rawl’s “Positive” on Barnes and Noble’s teen nonfiction list last year, read it, and thought Rawl’s story was very relevant to the high school students.

“I knew it would be a great fit,” Jennifer Toriello said. “I thought it was interesting and very relevant to high school students. So I reached out to Paige to see if she’d come speak and she said yes.”

All students in the Morris Hills Regional High School District read “Positive” as a summer reading assignment this year. Rawl spoke to students at Morris Hills High School Thursday, and Morris Knolls High School Friday, giving two lengthy assemblies at each school.

Rawl spent time between assemblies talking selfies with students and autographing their books. The buzz about her visit was also visible on social media, where hundreds of posts from students about Rawl filled Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

For the assemblies, Rawl gave a brief lecture, “HIV/AIDS 101,” read an excerpt from her memoir, and opened the floor to a lengthy question and answer session.

“It was 45 minutes of great questions, the most I’ve ever gotten,” Rawl said of the Morris Hills’ morning assembly. “One student asked what I would say to my 13-year-old self. I said I would tell myself to keep telling people I was being bullied until something was done about it, because eventually I stopped saying anything.”

When Rawl’s classmates learned of Paige’s HIV status in middle school, they began calling her hateful nicknames like “PAIDS” and despite her appeals, she said school administrators did not help her.

According to Rawl’s memoir, the constant taunting brought her to the edge and at 15 she was at her lowest point, staring at a bottle of sleeping pills.

But she has instead persevered and is now spreading the message of staying positive through her memoir and speaking engagements.

Rawl was also certified as the youngest person ever to be certified through the American Red Cross as an HIV/AIDS Educator, and has spoken before Indiana’s congress to help pass an anti-bullying bill in 2013.

A college student at Ball State where she is majoring in entrepreneurship to one day start her own nonprofit, Rawl is currently taking the year off to speak nationwide.

“Speaking became my passion,” said Rawl, who added her story carries two powerful message. “The first is reducing the stigma of HIV/AIDS and the other is anti-bullying.”

Morris Hills High School Principal Todd Toriello, Jennifer Toriello’s husband, said this academic year carries a school-wide theme based on the Rawl’s book, “Paint the World Positive.”

“We want to approach interactions with a positive mindset, to use Paige’s story to challenge students and staff,” Principal Toriello said. “As a school we’ve really embraced the theme. It’s been the basis of work in clubs and organizations this year.”

Principal Toriello said parents have stopped him at sporting events and Back to School night to thank the district for choosing “Positive” as the summer reading selection.

“I found the book really inspiring. I’m not much of a reader, especially in the summer, but when I finished it I didn’t want to put it down,” said Morris Hills freshman Ashwin Agnihotri. “I thought her story was really real, she wasn’t fake about anything and I found her experiences really eye opening.”

The district also held a 5K this weekend that raised more than $1,500 that will benefit Camp Kindle, a summer camp for children with HIV/AIDS that Rawl has attended.

“When I read this book I couldn’t put it down. It was amazing,” said Morris Hills sophomore Daniela Montoya. “The fact that she went through all she did, it’s crazy.” `

According to the state Department of Health, more than 38,000 people in New Jersey were living with HIV/AIDS in 2013.

As of Dec. 2014, a total of 1,131 people in Morris County were HIV-positive or had AIDS, according to the state report.